The present invention relates to disposable absorbent garments and particularly to articles such as disposable diapers, disposable pads against incontinence and disposable training pants all adapted to be placed around a crotch area of human body.
In disposable absorbent garments such as disposable diapers, the liquid-impermeable side flaps have conventionally been provided adjacent the outer side edges with the first elastic members and between the respective first elastic members and the respective side edges of the liquid-absorbent core with the second elastic members in order to assure an adequate sealing ability of said side flaps as disclosed in Patent Application Disclosure Gazette Nos. 62-250201 and 63-21901. According to such prior art, said second elastic members are affixed to the free ends of the respective second side flaps branched from the respective side flaps. Said second side flaps have their longitudinal ends fixedly folded in- or outwards.
The disposable diaper of another type is disclosed in Patent Application Disclosure Gazette No. 57-89602 and Utility Model Application Disclosure Gazette No. 62-88704 in which, in order to assure a reliable sealing effect, the elastic members affixed to the liquid-impermeable side flaps are configured to present the particular cross-sections so as to elastically urge the topsheet forming a part of each side flap as said elastic members are allowed to contract. Said particular cross-sections include inverted U-shape, O-shape and .OMEGA.-shape and these elastic members are joined to both the topsheet and the backsheet forming together each of said side flaps.
According to the prior art disclosed in said Patent Application Disclosure Gazette Nos. 62-250201 and 63-21901, the construction of each side flap becomes complicated and accordingly the article making process also becomes complicated, necessarily increasing a production cost, since the second side flaps are separately provided, to which the second elastic members are affixed and the longitudinal ends of said second side flaps are fixedly folded in- or outwards.
In accordance with the prior art disclosed in the previously mentioned Patent Application Disclosure Gazette No. 57-89602 and Utility Model Application Disclosure Gazette No. 62-88704, there is a problem in the operational efficiency with which the elastic members are affixed to the side flaps because of said particular cross-sections of said elastic members and the material cost necessarily increases since the elastic members must be relatively wide. Moreover, said elastic members are affixed to both the topsheet and the backsheet which form together said side flaps and the unique cross-sectional shapes of said elastic members are relied upon to urge the topsheet portions upwards. With a consequence, the height by which the topsheet portions can be urged upwards is disadvantageously limited by width and height(i.e., diametric dimension of the cross-section). Thus, the width and the cross-sectional diameter must be increased, even though this increases the material cost as mentioned above, in order to increase the height by which the topsheet portions can rise or can be urged upwards and thereby to improve the sealing effect.